Apple's Phil Shiller has been trash-talking Android in the press these past few days - just as Samsung is about to launch its Galaxy S4. "Public, preemptive slamming of a competitor is far outside Apple's PR wheelhouse; it's a dramatic shift for a company used to making news rather than reacting to it. But why is it happening?" The Verge hits the nail on the head: "Cupertino's behavior this week is yet another symptom of Samsung's stratospheric rise in the smartphone market globally, a rise that challenges Apple and has outright stifled Android competitors like HTC and Sony."

It's the "No Steve" effect. Just speculating, but Apple probably had a lot of typical petty MBA types in upper management that Steve likely kept them in check. Apparently the new guy in charge at Apple isn't following in Steve's footprints and the petty crap is starting to show through. Apple either needs to change to fit the current market OR do what Steve used to do, change the market itself. Now they just want to legally bury the competition and freeze the market as it is.